You Stole My Heart
by Hazelmist
Summary: Prongs is the leader of the magical world's most notorious band of thieves: the Marauders. Lily Evans is the Auror-in-training that's tasked with bringing him in. It's an impossible assignment, especially when it means unearthing her painful past and catching the ex-lover who already escaped her once and nearly destroyed her. If only the Marauders weren't so good-looking...
1. Prologue

**You Stole My Heart**

**By Hazelmist**

**Summary: Prongs is the leader of the magical world's most notorious band of thieves: the Marauders. Lily Evans is the Auror-in-training that's been tasked with bringing him in. She's not exactly thrilled with her impossible assignment, especially when her partner Frank Longbottom accidentally resurrects her darkest secret, thrusting her right back into the Marauder's path and into the arms of her ex-lover: the man who betrayed her.**

**A/N: Hey guys I'm BACK with another L/J story. This one's going to be AU and very different from I'll Fight For You but there will be plenty of L/J action and there will be Alice/Frank as well. Warning: The first chapter is dark and takes place in the past, the next chapter will fast forward to the present and will be more familiar and not so dark, but like the prologue of I'll Fight For You it's important. **

_It was a quiet evening in the park. The night was cold enough that the usual homeless inhabitants had been driven into shelters and warmer doorways, while the rowdy juvenile delinquents had gone home hours ago, leaving a few less broken bottles in their wake. Even the late commuters that usually cut through the park on their way home had splurged on cabs just to escape the biting chill of the first official night of winter._

_The silence was shattered by a loud ear-splitting crack as a young girl suddenly materialized out of thin air. Shivering, she looked around. The park appeared to be deserted but she shied away from the littered picnic table and stained park benches, ducking into the more wooded area. She felt safer here, well out of the path of any drunken muggle teenager. Diversion and invisibility charms were the first ones she had mastered after the fatherly Fox had taken her in, but old habits died hard, no matter how many times Fox or one of his crew reassured her that she was safe with them and that she could forget her past life. _

_She still couldn't believe how much her life had changed. Less than six months ago she had been miserable, starving and alone in London, and now not only had Fox given her a place to stay and a steady income, but he had saved her life by making her a member of his motley crew that was more of a family than her own flesh and blood that had cruelly rejected her at the first sign of her magical abilities. He had taught her everything he could so that she could flourish into the skilled witch she was supposed to be. And tonight, he was finally giving her the opportunity to prove herself worthy of everything he'd done for her. _

_She decided right then and there that she didn't give a damn what that pig-headed Prongs thought about her lack of experience. She was going to make Fox proud tonight and if she showed up stuck-up, condescending and doubtful Prongs in the process, so much the better._

"_Tiger, can you read me?" Moony's voice crackled in her ear all the way from their headquarters miles away in the heart of London. Tiger pushed up her sleeve, bringing the enchanted wrist band to her lips. _

"_Copy that," she whispered._

"_Good. Stay put. Wormtail?" Around her Tiger heard the others quietly checking in with Moony. It would be at least another two hours before they could start but after what happened the last time Moony wasn't taking any chances. She eased herself into a more comfortable position on the ground, preparing herself for a long wait in the cold. She knew that a simple heating charm could take care of the chill, but Fox and Moony had both agreed that the less enchantments they used the better. _

"_Tiger," Moony's voice was back in her ear again. "Prongs is on the move." _

"_Brilliant," she told her wrist. Moony sighed and lowered his voice, "I know I don't have to tell you this but don't get sidetracked again."_

"_I'm not going to distract him!" she snapped._

"_I'm not worried about _him_." _

_Tiger was glad that Moony couldn't see the way she blushed in the darkness. It was hard to shoot a glare at someone who wasn't physically present. She activated the speech spell again, growling, "I'll try not to kill him until after we're done."_

"_Excellent, but you're finding me a new thief," Moony chuckled, switching off just as Tiger heard a rustling sound in the brush behind her. She spun around so quickly that she almost got speared by an antler. Biting back a string of curses, Tiger squeezed her eyes shut and counted backwards. It didn't calm her down, but when she opened her eyes the wild stag was gone and an equally dangerous young man was crouched in its place. _

"_Prongs," she said, nodding._

"_Tiger." He grinned, tipping an imaginary hat to her. _

"_You know I hate it when you sneak up on me like that." _

"_Which is precisely why I do it," he reminded her, his hazel eyes twinkling mischievously behind his glasses. Tiger huffed and wrapped her arms around herself so he couldn't possibly see the way her heart was still trying to jump out of her chest. Tiger had only been working with the Marauders for a few months but she still wasn't quite immune to Prong's charms. Of course after what happened the last time... _

_As if he knew exactly what she was thinking, Prongs reached out to her. Tiger automatically gravitated toward him, her face tilting upwards. Her eyes fluttered shut as his calloused hand brushed over her face, tucking her hair behind her ear. _

"_Got it," he whispered._

"_What?" Tiger's eyes snapped open and she blinked. Prongs was grinning at her and twirling something between his fingers. _

"_You had a leaf in your hair," he explained, closing his hand. When he opened it there was a flower in its place. Tiger's breath caught, but Moony's warning echoed in her ear. No distractions. Not this time. _

"_No magic unless it's absolutely necessary. You could interfere with the wards," she chided him, shaking her head. Her words though were lost on both of them, as he carefully tucked the tiger lily behind her ear. _

"_I think It's a little too late for that warning," he said, smiling as he drank in the sight of her with the flower in her hair. "You've already cast a spell on me." _

_Tiger should've laughed at him. The pickup line was dreadfully overused by wizards. But there was nothing funny about the way he was coming closer and closer and closer… _

_Crap, she knew exactly where this was headed. She pressed a hand to his chest, trying to create a barrier between them. But despite the layers of clothing that separated them, she could feel the warm rock solid chest underneath it all. Instead of pushing him away, she was pulling him toward her. _

"_This is a bad idea," Tiger whispered to his cloak as she fought against the pull of his cologne._

"_Probably," he agreed. "But we've got hours before Moony gives us the green light and you're already freezing." She couldn't deny it. She was losing feeling in her fingertips and she was starting to tremble. He slid his arms around her, pulling her tight against his chest. The warmth of his body bled through his clothing, enveloping her at once. _

_Tiger closed her eyes, nearly whimpering as her body automatically responded to him. She let him hold her and rub his hands up and down her arms and back. Two minutes, she told herself even as she allowed her body to meld with his much warmer one. Two minutes and then I'll be warm and we can get back to business and our strictly professional relationship were Tiger's last thoughts before Prongs slid his hand up to her cheek and kissed her. _

_So much for avoiding distractions…_

"_Tiger?!"_

_The crackling at her wrist broke them apart again. Tiger fell back against the trunk of the tree, breathing raggedly. It hadn't been two whole hours, but the length of time that had passed shocked her. It felt like only a few minutes had gone by, but whenever she was with Prongs time seemed to fly. Still trembling, she rolled back her sleeve and activated the speech spell embedded in her watch._

"_I'm here. Checking in." _

"_Alright?" Moony, back in headquarters asked. Even here, miles away, she could hear the trace of concern in his voice and no doubt amusement. He had probably already guessed what had happened, despite his half-hearted warnings against that particular kind of distraction._

"_Everything's fine," she informed him, blushing and avoiding looking at the boy beside her at all costs. She heard Prongs checking in with Moony, and then Moony's voice faded to a low rumble as he checked in with the others. In fact everything seemed to be fading into the background, except for the handsome young man that loomed over her. _

"_Ready?" His breath warmed her face but the intensity of his hazel eyed gaze nearly burned her. She knew that he uncomfortable with her running point with him on this assignment, but Padfoot was forced to lie low until he recovered from their last assignment, and their boss Fox had been wary about contacting one of their usual contractors after what happened to the last one. Of course, she had been trained and had participated in many of their jobs, but nothing had ever compared to the scale and skill required for this one. _

"_You can still back out now," he urged her. "I've got Moony in my ear and Fox, Wormtail, and Mongoose on the ground."_

_Tiger remembered how when the others had first suggested the idea, Prongs had fought it, insisting that Moony would be the more experienced option or even a contractor. But Fox was their boss and had ultimately made the final decision, telling Prongs that Tiger was just as good as the rest of them. Prongs had been furious, but he respected Fox too much to go against him. He had trained her thoroughly and had her go through the exercises over and over again. Even if he had grudgingly come to accept that she had perfected the routine, he had treated her coldly and kept his distance, until tonight. When they arrived on site the cold demeanor had vanished, and instead, not only had he been his usual mischievous self but he had drawn her into the circle of his arms and kissed her like _that_. Poor Tiger, was still trying to catch her breath. _

_Now, she wondered if it had all been a distraction and one last effort to persuade her to change her mind. If it had been, it hadn't worked. She was more determined than ever to prove that she was a worthy member of this gang. She wanted to impress Fox, the others, and especially Prongs. _

"_I'm ready," she told him, lifting her chin defiantly. He sighed and swore under his breath. Reaching for her hand, their fingers laced together for the last time. Tiger had only a moment to close her eyes before he apparated them._

_CRACK!_

_Tiger opened her eyes again and the park was gone. Instead a mansion rose up before her like a pale full moon rising in the night sky. She had studied the pictures many times, but it was so much bigger and beautiful in real life. Hundreds of stained glass windows looked down the stories above her and the Greek columns that lined the front seemed to go on for miles. She craned her head back to see glittering turrets reached so high that Tiger thought that if she could only climb to the top she might be able to touch the stars. It took her breath away. _

"_Remember, it's just magic and manipulation," Prongs quoted Fox, their mentor and boss, but not without a little awe. "Nothing is ever what it seems."_

_Tiger sighed. She shut out the lovely vision and murmured a spell under her breath. When she opened her eyes again, the world was alight in shades of gold and red instead of silver. She could see the sparkling outlines of the wards like a giant tent that had been pitched over the mansion and fell in blankets around it. It looked snug and sealed up tight against the night, but Tiger knew there was always a chink in the armor._

_A strategically cast spell that wouldn't raise an alarm was all it took for the sparks to go out. And then the tent was collapsing in on itself and the blankets were coming down like tapestries that bore the family crest, only to be pulled when a new master took over. Tiger was already spelling herself into the new wards she had recreated by the time Prongs had reactivated the tracking spell and checked back in with Moony. _

_He pulled out the Marauder's map and whispered the password. Already Moony's confident strokes and spidery handwriting were outlining the parchment and filling in the once blank parchment. Thanks to Padfoot, Prongs and Tiger had already memorized the blueprint for the mansion weeks ago, but with Mongoose, Wormtail and Fox on the ground and the wards down, the map was bound to change. Fortunately Padfoot's memory was excellent and the location of the emergency apparation point hadn't changed. Tiger pinpointed it before the spell wore off, exactly where the Marauder's map said it would be. They couldn't risk side-along apparation this close, so Tiger went first and Prongs followed. _

_They reappeared within seconds of each other inside one of the mansion's grand fireplaces that had no doubt once been used for flooing. Tiger landed on all fours in the still sooty hearth. Prongs had to help her to her feet, much to her embarrassment. _

"_This is why I hate traveling by floo powder," she grumbled as one of her hands left another black print on the wall. "I'll never be able to get this ash out of my clothes." Prongs reached up to gently brush some of it from her shirt._

"_If you had apparated another six inches to the left you would've ran into the fireplace and we'd be cleaning up your blood right now," he scolded her, his fingers clenching around her shoulder._

_Tiger bit her lip, sensing from the tone of his voice that this was about to turn into another lecture. _

"_I'm fine," she defended herself, knowing that this wasn't just about her miscalculation of a few inches. "I know what I'm doing, Prongs. Fox wouldn't have let me come along if he didn't think that I could do this just as well as you or anyone else on this crew."_

"_Tiger, you need to understand that this job is different," Prongs said, lowering his head so that they were eye to eye. _

"_I know, Padfoot's not here, the wards are more complicated, the mansion could be booby trapped, the artifact is more valuable and will be guarded, and this job is so much more bigger than anything I've ever done before. I know, Prongs, I KNOW!" She exploded, shaking herself free of him. She moved away from him in her frustration, but turned back to face him. For the last three weeks he had been treating her like a child and she was tired of it. _

"_You've told me the same thing a million times and you've tried to talk me out of this over and over again, but I'm not going anywhere. You trained me just like everyone else, but I learned faster. I worked hard and I practiced until I got good, almost as good as you. Fox told me that you even admitted it to him. He knows I can do this, so does everyone else, even you. So why don't you trust me to get the job done like the others?" she demanded, propping her hands on her hips. _

_He didn't answer her, at least not in the manner she was expecting. Instead he crossed the room in three quick strides and took her by the shoulders. She thought that he was going to yell at her, maybe tell her how ignorant, and inexperienced, and cocky she was for someone so young that had just joined the ranks of an elite gang of thieves, largely by chance, a mere six months ago. But he didn't yell at her. Something in him seemed to crack as her head tilted back to meet his eyes, and with a sigh, his hands slid up to her cup her face. _

"_Damn it, Tiger," he whispered. "This is my fault. You weren't supposed to get caught up in this."_

_And then he kissed her. His arms went around her, crushing her against him and lifting her up off of the floor. He broke the kiss almost as soon as it began and rested his cheek against her hair, but he did not relinquish his hold on her. He clung to her like he was drowning at sea and she was the only thing that could keep him afloat. _

_For the first time, Tiger saw a more vulnerable side of Prongs so different from the confident, charming handsome young man that was so alive that you couldn't help but be drawn to him. And for the first time, Tiger wondered if she really knew Prongs at all. _

_As he lowered her back down to her feet, loosening his hold on her, she heard him whisper, "I'm sorry, please forgive me."_

_It would be another fortnight before she could finally process everything that had happened that cold December night that marked the beginning of a seemingly endless winter, and another month before she would realize what he had been apologizing for. He had tried to warn her so many times that night but she refused to listen. She wondered what would have happened if she had taken his advice and backed out of the whole thing before it even began. _

"_Just follow our lead, Tiger," Prongs reminded her. _

_Shaken, she could do nothing more than nod and follow him. Fox, their leader with his kind eyes and his greying hair, met them at the bottom of the stairs. It was rare now that he did the actual legwork on these jobs, but he'd opted not to hire any outsiders this time to replace Padfoot. Seeing him now dressed in black with his sly eyes bright in his weathered face, she remembered who had founded this gang and who had led them in the years that followed. When she remembered him later, she always saw him as he was then, laying a fatherly hand on her shoulder and looking her over with pride. _

"_Brilliant work with the wards, Tiger," he complimented her. _

_Tiger beamed up at him, at that man who in such a short amount of time had become more like a paternal figure than her boss. He had saved her life and she would never forget that. _

"_You taught her well, Prongs. When the day comes I know that I will be leaving everything in capable hands," he said gruffly, turning his gaze on the young man that stood beside her. _

"_You're not finished yet, old man," Prongs retorted, but even as he smiled, there was something missing from it. His shoulder brushed against hers, and she could feel the tenseness there. At the time she had wished she had been able to reassure Prongs, now looking back she wished she had warned Fox that something was wrong. _

"_Who are you calling old?" Fox asked, eyes twinkling. "Come along, Tiger, let's show him what we can do." _

_He took her elbow gently, detaching her from Prongs. And together the trio descended into the darkness, unaware that Prongs would be the only one that would come back out alive._

* * *

_Padfoot knew, long before Prongs crashed through the ceiling of the current Headquarters of the Marauders that the job had gone horribly wrong. Moony had lost contact with everyone over an hour ago and had been unable to reestablish the tracking spell or even pick up the slightest reading. But Padfoot and Moony had been trained thoroughly by Fox and knew that protocol was the only reason their gang had survived and thrived as long as it had. So they had been forced to sit and do nothing but speculate and curse and imagine the worse possible scenario for sixty agonizing minutes. Until Prongs came crashing through the bloody roof. _

"_What the –" _

"_Are you okay?" _

"_You know we have a door!"_

"_Shut up!" Prongs hissed at Padfoot, stumbling to his feet and shoving the concerned Moony aside. He lunged for the control panel and swiped out his arm. Moony's wand rolled off the desk and every single one of the intricate spells that he had in place were disrupted. _

"_What are you doing?" Moony asked, horrified. _

_Prongs pushed Padfoot out of the way, accidentally hitting the leg that had been injured during their last botched job. Padfoot cursed him and Moony kept interrogating him, but Prongs wouldn't answer either of them until he had unplugged everything and obliterated any sign of magic or technology. Only then, did Padfoot and Moony seem to understand what was happening. Their worst possible scenarios were proven and confirmed when Prongs told them to wipe the whole place clean and pack up immediately. _

"_I don't want anything left behind. No one can know we've been here. Get ready to go underground. We're going to have to lie low for a few months. No contact for at least six weeks, understood?" _

"_Where's Fox?" Padfoot demanded. _

"_He's dead," Prongs said, slumping against what was left of the control panel. He slid down to the floor, clutching one of his bloody arms to his chest. Padfoot and Moony gaped at him, struggling to process this._

"_What about Wormtail and Mongoose?" Moony asked when he finally found his voice again. _

"_They could be dead, I don't know," Prongs hissed as he applied a healing spell to his arm. He shut his eyes and bit down so hard on his lip that Moony and Padfoot saw it start to bleed. _

"_And what about Tiger?" Padfoot asked, referring to the last and youngest member of their crew who they all knew Prongs had his eye on. _

_Prong's eyes flew open and there was a flame there that hadn't been there before. With a growl, he threw himself at Padfoot. He caught him by the throat with his good arm and pushed him up against the wall with bruising force. _

"_Don't ever mention her name again," he warned him and his eyes burned into Padfoot's until he was forced to look away. "She's dead, you hear me? She's dead to us." _

"_That's enough, Prongs," Moony said. With surprising strength, he pulled Prongs off of Padfoot. Prongs looked as if he were about to fight Moony as well, but Moony spoke with urgency. "We won't say her name ever again. Now, I think we all have work to do if we want to get out of here alive." _

_Grudgingly, Prongs silently agreed. The three Marauders quickly went to work erasing themselves from the Headquarters where they had spent the past year living together. Fifteen minutes later, the three remaining Marauders had gone their separate ways and there was nothing left but a ghost of a memory._

* * *

_Tiger didn't remember much of the events leading up to that moment, but she knew the instant that she was thrown back from the explosion that she was already dead. She dragged herself up onto her knees in the dirt, and spotted Fox immediately. And even though she knew he was dead, she couldn't help herself from reaching for his wrist and searching for a pulse. There wasn't one, but unlike her he still gripped a lifeline in one of his closed fists. _

_She took his wand from him. He wouldn't be needing it anymore. Her hands were covered with blood but her mind was clear as she started to construct and deconstruct the wards in her mind. _

_When the Aurors arrived on scene, she was waiting for them. No one knew what happened that night, or what on earth she was trying to accomplish, but somehow the Ministry of Magic had wound up with the leader of the magical world's most mysterious band of thieves, revealing herself and begging them to kill her. The papers never told that side of the story, but they did create many more for the legendary Tiger and her mythical court of thieves. _

_Sometimes in the months leading up to her execution, she used to wonder what had happened to the others. But instead she kept her mouth shut, and let the papers make up stories, and let the rest of the magical world to speculate. _

_And when her death sentence was about to be carried out, she took those secrets with her to the Executioner's Chamber. _

"_Are you sure there isn't anything more you wish to tell us?" they asked her before she was led away from her cell. _

_She thought of the moment in the attic of the mansion when all of the walls had come down and Prongs had desperately apologized, minutes before he'd betrayed them all. It was on her lips, but something made her swallow it back down and shake her head. She had already been dead for months._

_The first and only time she opened her mouth was when the executioner asked her if she was ready to die. _

_She told them she was. _

_Her executioner smiled, and turned away from the window, withdrawing her wand. Tiger closed her eyes, feeling the warmth of sun on her face for the first time in months and she thought that maybe the endless winter had finally come to an end and that she was free at last. _

**A/N: I know this is SO different from I'll Fight For You but bear with me. The next chapter will take place years later in the present and won't be so dark, I promise!**


	2. The Assignment

**You Stole My Heart**

**Summary: Last time on You Stole My Heart, Tiger, Prongs, Fox and the rest of his band of Marauders attempt a robbery. But somehow things spiral out of control and Prongs comes rushing back to Headquarters and tells Moony and Padfoot that Fox is dead and they have to go into hiding because the job went wrong. Tiger doesn't really know what happened but once she realizes Fox is dead and that she's been abandoned and betrayed she turns herself in. Her trial ends with her being found guilty and condemned to death. Fast forward four years to the present. **

**A/N: Okay, so this chapter is set four years after the events of the prologue. **

**Chapter 1: The Assignment**

**FOUR YEARS LATER**

The sun illuminated and warmed the front window of London's most expensive restaurant, but none of the muggles hurrying past could see it or hear the hum of the radio on the bar behind the odd couple seated at the only table with a view.

"_And it appears that the Marauders have struck again, this time in the home of America's oldest magical community. American authorities reported late last week that there was a break in at the Salem Witch Museum and the only historical artifact in the collection with potentially dangerous magical properties has gone missing. The muggle chief officer of the Salem Police force described in detail what was found on the museum's security cameras and is already contemplating an early retirement, confirming that this was indeed the work of the magical world's most notorious band of thieves. The leader of Salem's magical community spoke to the press earlier this morning as well: "What I want to know is what the fuck those snobby Brits are intending to do about this. I mean come on, the Ministry of Magic has known about these guys for years and all they're doing is sitting around and drinking tea, insisting they already got this shit done four years ago when they caught the Tiger, but it's wicked obvious that they're still out there_-"

"Turn it off," the distinguished woman ordered without looking up from her tea.

James Potter had to hide a smirk as a waiter obediently rushed over and switched the radio off, extinguishing the sounds of the WWN and the rough Bostonian accent of Salem's outraged leader.

Across the table from him, his grandmother finally set down her teacup and completely missed the saucer. James' head shot up as the tea sloshed out of the cup, dotting her sleeve. She didn't appear to notice as she glanced at her pocket watch impatiently.

"Are you unwell, grandmother?" he asked because she had paled considerably and she had missed the saucer and failed to see the stain on her sleeve.

"I'm fine," she snapped back at him, confirming that she wasn't. For a woman that _never_ lost control, any sign of agitation at all was rare and if it did appear it always belied that some sort of catastrophic disaster was imminent. Sometimes it meant that the magical world was in grave danger, but usually it meant that she was disappointed in him again. James still had a very vivid recollection of the time when he was expelled from Hogwarts. If it hadn't been for Edward's intervention, James was certain she would've murdered him. But there was no Edward to intervene now, and if his grandmother had any idea of what he had really been doing since the day of his expulsion, he was sure that she'd make him _want_ to die.

"Bloody Americans," she swore suddenly, heightening his alarm. "They'll leave me with no choice."

Abruptly, she got up from the table and hurried out into the street without paying the check as she always did when they met for their weekly lunch every Thursday. He could hear her muttering as she stormed off.

"She's not ready yet but it's our only option."

James Potter was suddenly set free from his obligatory familial duties, a realization that usually would have elated him and sent him racing back to his crew. But as he flagged down the confused waiter and signed for the check, all he felt was an exhausting and overwhelming sense of dread. Judging from his grandmother's unusual behavior, something awful was happening and he had a bad feeling that this time it would involve him.

Sighing, he stood up to gather his coat and vacated the table. He paused at the door and found the waiter was already prepping the table for the next regular patron. This week, there was another vase of flowers but instead of daisies, they'd opted for lilies: Tiger Lilies.

James ran out into the street before he acted upon the irrational urge to throw the vase and the Tiger Lilies at the stupid waiter's head.

* * *

One hour later and three blocks away, Frank Longbottom burst into the lower levels of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and desperately scanned the cubicles until he found her. Ignoring the glares of their more ambitious colleagues, Frank squeezed through the other cubicles, calling her name loud enough to be threatened with a silencing spell twice before he finally reached her at the very back.

"_Lily_. LILY!"

"Two minutes, just two more minutes," the girl slurred from somewhere behind a mound of paperwork that was spilling over her desk. But her partner and the Department of Magical Law Enforcement did not have two minutes. Two seconds later Lily Evans found herself flat on her back and staring up into a wide pair of brown eyes and a mortified Frank Longbottom instead of the dreamy, magical rogue of her dreams. She was instantly awake.

"Oh, Merlin, I'm so sorry, Lily," Frank apologized, helping her up off the floor. "I meant to just shake your chair a little bit I didn't mean to tip it over. Are you okay?"

Lily smiled, as he set her back on her feet. Frank Longbottom was one of the gentlest persons she'd ever met, but after a late growth spurt and three years of Auror training, he still didn't know his own strength.

"I'm fine, Frank. Honestly," she reassured him.

"Great. But we've got a meeting with ABC."

"When?" Lily asked, her pulse kicking up a notch upon hearing the dreaded acronym. For trainees like Frank and Lily it stood for the most feared and revered members of the Auror department: Alastor Moody, Bartimus Crouch and of course, the woman so frightening that everyone secretly called her the Crone.

"Two minutes ago."

Lily's hands went for her wand to tidy up her desk and then to her hair which had come out of its regular bun during her nap, but Frank grabbed her arm before she could decide on either action.

"No time," he told her, dragging her out of her cubicle. "It's in 7B."

Lily grimaced, struggling to keep up with Frank as they whipped through the disorganized chaotic mess of workspaces that were reserved for Aurors in the department of Magical Law Enforcement. It was one of the few things that Lily disliked about the magical world, their total disregard for the codes and rules that structured the muggle buildings that she'd grown up with. For once she'd like to be able to get through the Ministry without being attacked by a rogue banshee or a Devil's Snare. It made getting to important meetings on time, such as this one, virtually impossible.

The pair had narrowly escaped a bat bogey hex and were out of breath by the time they finally reached 7B. Fortunately, despite Frank's size and the brightness of Lily's hair, the pair had an uncanny ability to blend in and be overlooked. Well, usually that was how it worked. When Frank opened the door, they immediately saw that their invisibility skills weren't going to cut it this time.

There was no one in the room except ABC. Alastor Moody was glowering at them, no doubt checking them for hidden weapons and suspicious activity. Bartimus Crouch was looking bored and somber as usual, wielding his fat book of rules and regulations that no one but him cared about. But it was the presence of a woman by the window with her back to them that frightened the pair more than anything Moody could have done or Crouch could have said.

"Maybe we're early," Frank blurted out just loud enough for all three of the dreaded superiors to hear.

"Or maybe you're twenty-one minutes and eighteen seconds late for a meeting that should have already been over with." The woman snapped her pocket watch shut and turned to face the pair with a searing glare. Frank, a man who was twice this woman's size, audibly gulped and cowered behind Lily.

At first glance, the Crone didn't look like the type of person who should have struck fear into the hearts of almost everyone who crossed her path. She was a pure blooded witch of medium stature who could've been anywhere from forty to one hundred (witches and wizards aged more slowly than muggles). She wore her steel grey hair scraped back and neatly knotted at the base of her skull just as it always had been for the decades she had led the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. In fact the only thing about her that had changed since she had taken charge of the department was the gradual acquisition of more lines in her face and the slight fading of the mean scar that curled up one side of her jaw, disappearing behind her left ear. It was a battle scar she wore proudly and it was the real reason why she was so terrifying. Years ago, the Crone had single handedly defeated the last Dark wizard to threaten the peace of the magical world and she never let anyone forget it.

"Sit," she ordered them. She flicked her wand in their direction, and Lily and Frank felt the ground move out from underneath their feet, forcing them to fall back into two chairs that magically materialized behind them. Frank and Lily barely had time to compose themselves before she was looming over them, standing in the space between Moody and Crouch's chairs.

"You're late so I will be brief and you can do research on your own time instead of wasting any more of mine."

"We're sorry," Frank stammered.

"You should be," Crouch interrupted him coolly. "You have both been selected for a special assignment and there will be no briefing because neither one of you have respect for time regulations or the rules and requests of your superiors." He cleared his throat and flipped open the handbook resting on the table between them. Lily could've sworn Moody actually rolled his eyes as Crouch began reading, "According to rule 16, any and all pending assignments should be terminated if the superior feels that –"

"Bartimus," the Crone hissed. "That's enough."

"I am merely reciting what is textbook for every case assignment we handle," Bartimus sniffed, eyeing the pair disdainfully over his spectacles. "These two cannot abide by the rules and are therefore unsuitable –"

"Barty, you've made your point. Now I think you should shut up and let me make mine." It wasn't a request. Bartimus closed the book and retreated into a glowering silence.

"Even though, as Bartimus duly noted, neither one of you excelled in your first year of training or shown any inclination to do so in the future," both Lily and Frank flushed and glanced down at their hands, "I think you're long overdue for your first solo assignment," she grudgingly informed them.

Frank nudged her elbow slightly and Lily forced herself to look up and try not to look too excited. All of the other trainees had already received and completed their first solo assignments months ago, but Lily and Frank had been passed over again and again for even the simplest cases and had been restricted to boring mounds of paperwork and dull drudge work.

"If you fail to complete this assignment or choose not to accept it you will be dismissed from the program."

Frank fidgeted in his chair and Lily clenched her sweating hands in her lap to keep them from trembling. They didn't need to be reminded of that fact. This was it. This was their last chance to redeem themselves and then perhaps they'd finally have the ABC off their back and be well on their way to becoming full fledged Aurors. But if they messed this up…

"In the case of your pending possible termination, I strongly suggest you begin to explore alternative career options," Barty Crouch said smugly as he handed each of them a scroll. This time Lily was sure that Moody rolled his eyes toward the ceiling before allowing them to linger on each of the two young trainees, not with disdain or malice but something else that scared Lily almost as much as the Crone: pity.

With trembling fingers she tried to pick at the seal, completely forgetting for the moment that she had a wand at hand. She was concentrating so hard on her task that she missed Crouch's rare smirk and Frank's puzzled reaction.

But just as she broke open the seal and unfurled the parchment, she caught the sound of the Crone's rare bark of a laugh.

"I think you'll like this assignment Ms. Evans," the Crone chuckled.

Lily's heart sunk even before she read the task. All she had to do was look at the Crone and she knew exactly what she had to do and why it was going to be impossible to complete. Her fears were immediately confirmed. She rolled up the scroll without bothering to read past the first line. Frank cleared his throat beside her but the Crone just laughed at him.

"If you have any questions Mr. Longbottom, I'm sure Ms. Evans will be able to answer them for you. She's something of an expert on this matter."

Frank tried to catch her eye but Lily looked straight ahead into the eyes of the evil Crone. She could back out right now and perhaps save herself and Frank a lot of unnecessary trouble and grief, but she knew that Frank wouldn't accept defeat so easily and deep, deep down there was a part of Lily that didn't want to either. After all, maybe the despicable woman wasn't giving Lily her termination notice but instead giving her an opportunity to prove herself as an Auror, and as a witch that shouldn't be crossed. Perhaps, after all these years, it was finally time to find out what really happened that December so many years before and get her revenge on those traitors that landed her here in the first place.

"Will that be all?" Lily asked.

She stood and left without waiting for an answer, leaving three stunned men in her wake and a woman with a vicious smirk.

* * *

"What was that about?" Frank had caught up with her by the time she reached the lift.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lily lied but she was forced to wait for the lift and Frank was unwilling to let it drop.

"The Crone just handed us our first assignment, an impossible assignment that should have been handled by someone much higher than us, and she's telling me that you're already an expert on the matter."

"She was making a joke." Lily pretended to shrug it off.

"The Crone doesn't do jokes," Frank reminded her as the doors opened and they got on. "Or have you forgotten last April Fool's Day when she put the Prewitt brothers in the hospital because they transformed the Auror Department into a petting zoo and she suspended both of us for a week because the goats ate all the paperwork we were supposed to be working on."

Lily smiled at the memory but shook her head.

"I meant that she was making a joke of us, Frank. In case you haven't noticed Crouch, and the Crone, and everyone else here is rooting for us to fail." Lily expelled a breath and leaned back against the wall of the lift, suddenly exhausted. "I can't really blame them. We're not exactly Auror material. They should have kicked us out a long time ago…" she trailed off glumly, eyeing her scuffed shoes.

Frank cleared his throat and Lily quickly tried to take back her words. "Frank, I didn't mean you."

"No, I get it," he waved off her apology. "I flunked the preliminary exam twice before I made the grade. And if Crawford hadn't taken a nutty and I hadn't been paired up with you for that last training exercise I never would have been accepted."

"Frank…"

"It probably doesn't help that we were suspended twice and we're always late for those stupid meetings with Crouch. If he had his way we'd already be gone. I don't know why the Crone hasn't fired us yet." A gloomy silence settled over them as they rode the rest of the way down in silence.

"I think she keeps us around because she fancies you," Lily quipped as the doors slid open. The woman had to be three times Frank's age. Frank laughed and snickered, "Or maybe she fancies _you_." Lily grinned and shrugged as the pair got off together.

Lily didn't know why Frank hadn't been let go, but she suspected it was because Alaster Moody had a soft spot for him and could see his potential to be a great Auror if he just had the opportunity to prove himself. What she did know was that the Crone had taken her on and kept her around for one reason and it came in the form of the scroll that was still clutched tightly in her left fist.

They wanted to catch the Marauders and Lily was their only hope.

**A/N: Thank you so much to those of you that reviewed! Okay, so now Lily's officially got her assignment to bring down the Marauders. Will she be able to do it? Look out for the next chapter soon. And I can assure you that several good looking Marauders will be making an appearance the next part. **


End file.
